health
Minority teens with asthma likely had mothers who smoked during pregnancy
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted June 18, 2012
Black and Latino children who experience acute asthma symptoms in their adolescence are more likely to have had mothers who smoked while pregnant, said a study in the June Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology.
The study, conducted by researchers from the University of California, San Francisco, found that teens who were exposed to tobacco in-utero had a 50% higher chance of having uncontrolled asthma than other children. Youths whose mothers smoked during pregnancy were more likely to have the condition than children exposed to smoke during childhood (link).
Researchers analyzed 2,500 black and Latino children with asthma who were ages 8 to 17. They said the findings were significant in light of the greater proportion of female minorities who smoke while pregnant and the higher rates of asthma among blacks and Latinos.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2012/06/18/hlbf0618.htm.
